Chapter 10

Chapter 9: Changming Town 9

Hearing this, Shi Zong did not immediately respond to Li Second Young Master, but raised his head to scrutinize him for a few moments.

Recalling, before entering the game, he first encountered a mysterious man claiming to be a police officer named Chen Li, and immediately after, he saw a white light.

Shi Zong had to suspect that this Chen Li person had lured him into the game.

The system had already mentioned that players could earn points through this game, and points could be exchanged with the king for all sorts of things—maybe even items that lure people into the game or assign them identities.

If Chen Li assigned him the role of “Jiang Wan’er,” who in the default storyline is a deceased character…

It was very possible that he had premeditatedly planned to kill him.

Chen Li himself was an experienced player and couldn’t enter the newbie scenario.

Just in case, he could have recruited another newbie into the scenario to watch over him.

Finding this newbie wasn’t hard—just see who was targeting him, who wanted him dead.

Could this person… be Li Second Young Master?

While Shi Zong was thinking, Zuo Sanqiu spoke up first to refute.

“You have a logical problem. If Jiang Wan’er wrote the note, she would write ‘I am at the Eternal Burial Inn,’ not use the three words ‘Jiang Wan’er.’”

Li Second Young Master immediately said, “She’s the culprit, of course she’d fabricate a third party.”

“You’re assuming Jiang Wan’er is the culprit first, then saying this. You’re really unreasonable.”

Zuo Sanqiu couldn’t help but roll his eyes and then addressed the others, “I don’t know if you’ve played murder-mystery games in real life, but as it stands, Elder Gong’s death is a typical ‘three strikes and two poisons’ scenario. When these murder-mystery games first became popular, many scenarios were like this.

“In this mode, almost everyone has touched the victim, so motives are relatively less important. If we line up all the murder methods and their corresponding time of death, then combine that with the timeline, it’s not hard to identify the culprit.”

Li Second Young Master shrugged. “Easier said than done. But all of us just claimed that after checking into the inn last night, we didn’t leave our rooms.”

“That’s because no one was sure if they were the culprit yet, so they didn’t dare tell the truth.

“For example, if someone poisoned Elder Gong’s late-night snack but isn’t sure if he ate it, they won’t know if he died from their poison, so they won’t admit it.”

Zuo Sanqiu explained, “Therefore, in the next investigation phase, each of us can first analyze whether we are the culprit. If not, we can freely explain what we did.

“In the end, using the method of elimination, we can still find the culprit. This is a newbie scenario—it shouldn’t be too hard!”

This really was a newbie scenario.

But probably not an ordinary one.

Especially after Jiang Wan’er’s death, which led the story into a different line.

Zuo Sanqiu was right: in the three strikes and two poisons mode, there’s no need to be too concerned about motive.

After all, if everyone has a motive to kill, you can’t eliminate anyone based on motive.

Thus, from the perspective of finding the real culprit, there’s no need to fully restore each suspect’s story or investigate their relationship with the victim.

But judging by the map size and number of NPCs, the story background of this scenario was quite large.

By now, only fragments of the story had been revealed.

For a system to design such a relatively complex story while the murder itself is unrelated to motive or the suspects’ histories—could that be possible?

Shi Zong was doubtful.

So… could the so-called “three strikes and two poisons” just be a smokescreen?

Perhaps the only person who actually touched the victim was the real culprit.

Many thoughts flashed through Shi Zong’s mind, but he didn’t speak a word.

Zuo Sanqiu spoke again. “Actually, I can admit one thing: the bump on the back of the victim’s head was from me. But I hit him on the commercial street. That definitely wouldn’t be fatal.”

Zuo Sanqiu quickly shared the part of the story he had hidden—

Last night at 2:30 a.m., Zhang Ye checked into room 302 of the inn. After lying in bed, he tossed and turned.

He deeply loved Jiang Wan’er and could not refuse any request from her, so he cast a love curse on Elder Gong and went with her to the other side of the river.

But he was deeply worried that Elder Gong might take Jiang Wan’er away.

Unable to sleep, Zhang Ye left the inn and walked on the street.

On the commercial street, a few mahjong parlors were still open, and by the faint light, he saw the hurried Elder Gong.

Next to Zhang Ye happened to be a breakfast shop with its window open, showing a rolling pin on a chopping board.

Seeing this, Zhang Ye grabbed the rolling pin and quietly followed Elder Gong.

After a while, he noticed Elder Gong heading toward the inn.

Why go to the inn?

Had he found out Jiang Wan’er was there and wanted to take her away?

On impulse, Zhang Ye threw the rolling pin at the back of Elder Gong’s head.

Zhang Ye usually liked throwing darts and was accurate, so he actually hit Elder Gong’s head with the rolling pin.

Elder Gong fell hard after being struck.

Zhang Ye was about to check on him when he suddenly heard voices near the mahjong parlor’s door—someone must have finished playing mahjong and left.

Zhang Ye sobered up a bit.

Elder Gong was a powerful sorcerer. If he knew Zhang Ye had hit him, he might curse him.

So, before anyone saw him, Zhang Ye slipped away.

“That’s it. Hitting his head was a spur-of-the-moment impulse.

“Elder Gong is skilled in dealing with evil spirits and knows some talismans and formations, but at heart, he’s still a mortal, and he’s old, so my blow hit him hard…

“But I didn’t kill him. Otherwise, how could he appear in his own home instead of the commercial street?”

Zuo Sanqiu summarized, “Before seeing the body, I didn’t admit it because I wanted to assess the situation first. But now I can fully admit it.

“Anyone else who did something to him but doesn’t think they’re the culprit can also admit it.”

Li Second Young Master spoke up.

He said, “None of what you said can be proven. You could have knocked him out on the street and moved his body back to Dongtian Fuju, posing it like that.”

“Impossible. How do you explain the sword wounds and poisoning symptoms? If I knocked him out, how did he get poisoned?”

Zuo Sanqiu frowned, “You’re strange—either attacking Jiang Wan’er or attacking me. You’re muddying the waters. Could it be that you’re the real culprit?”

Li Second Young Master smiled slightly, “I’m not. I’m just reasonably raising doubts. But saying this now is pointless; let’s find clues quickly. We’re not in a hurry. As for Miss Jiang—”

He looked at Shi Zong, “You seem more impatient.”

At that moment, Shi Zong jumped down from a low wall beside them.

Seeing him brush dust off his hands, Li Second Young Master asked, “Found anything?”

“Mm,” Shi Zong said. “There are clear footprints showing someone had been crouching here.

“Also, look for yourselves—from the living room to the body, there’s a row of footprints. I just checked Elder Gong’s shoes—the soles have lotus patterns that match that row.

“So, we can assume that Elder Gong wasn’t moved here after death. This is the first crime scene.

“He walked from the living room toward the courtyard gate, and either died from poison or was shot by an arrow at the heart when reaching the current location.”

Hearing this, Zuo Sanqiu immediately climbed the wall and saw the footprints.

But the prints were only partial, with rough outlines, no clear pattern. Without forensic tools, they couldn’t identify the suspect from this alone.

For now, it could only be assumed someone had crouched here waiting for Elder Gong to pass and then shot an arrow at him.

After briefly explaining why Elder Gong and Jiang Wan’er eloped, Zuo Sanqiu said, “So now we can roughly reconstruct the victim’s timeline—

“After leaving the Zhang family estate, he went to the central square where he was supposed to meet Jiang Wan’er but didn’t see her, so he tried to find her. Probably he assigned his subordinates to help locate her.

“Later, after receiving the note saying ‘Jiang Wan’er is at the inn,’ Elder Gong went out to find her. At this moment, someone lying in ambush at the low wall shot him with an arrow!”

Shi Zong interrupted, “Correction. When Elder Gong received the note and went to the inn, you hit him and he passed out. Someone leaving the mahjong parlor probably saved him and brought him back to Dongtian Fuju. That was his first outing.

“After resting at home, he went out again, and only then was shot by an arrow. So…”

Pausing, Shi

Could it be that this inn isn’t normally in operation?

This inn definitely had something wrong.

This was why Shi Zong chose to explore here first.

This time he didn’t enter through the front door, but went around to the back of the garden.

The iron gate at the back was already rusted, the lock chain broken; Shi Zong unlocked it without much effort and walked in with Zuo Sanqiu.

Rotten leaves, mud, a series of dilapidated buildings, trees so tall and overgrown they blocked the sky…

Once inside the garden, all he could see was desolation.

For some reason, a magnificent garden scene, once in its prime, appeared before Shi Zong’s eyes.

It was as if he had once lived here.

Back then, the spring scenery was so beautiful, nothing like now, where only broken walls remained.